By Ari Bloomekatz
Los Angeles Times
SAN BERNADINO COUNTY, Calif. — A 13-year-old boy who allegedly stole a bronze dove from a statue memorializing a San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy killed during a massive manhunt earlier this year was caught after bragging on Instagram, authorities said.
Deputy Jeremiah MacKay died in a gun battle with fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner in February and was immortalized for his actions and service with a statue in Lake Arrowhead Village.
Sometime between the afternoon of Sept. 8 and the morning of Sept. 9 the bronze dove was stolen from the granite base of the statue. But this week, authorities said they finally pinpointed the vandal — a middle school student in Lake Elsinore.
On Tuesday, “a citizen” contacted the Twin Peaks Station to report a male juvenile who was posting photos on Instagram “bragging he had stolen the dove,” according to a news release from the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner Department.
Although the juvenile had used an alias, the sheriff’s department said detectives were able to identify and arrest him at school.
Authorities searched the boy’s home and found the bronze dove in his bedroom in a shoebox.
The teenager and his parents were issued citations, authorities said.
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